Unit 15 the New Land Revenue Settlements

UNIT 15 THE NEW LAND REVENUE I SETTLEMENTS Structure 15.0 Objectives 15. I Introduction 15.2 First Experiments in Land Revenue Management 15.3 The Permanent Settlement in Bengal 15.3.1 A Settlement with Zamindars 15.3.2 The Position of the Cultivators 15.3.3 Effects of the Permanent Settlement 15.4 Disillusionment with Permanent Settlement 15.5 The Emergence of Alternative Systems 15.5.1 Land Assessment Under Ryotwari 15.5.2 The Adoption of Ryotwari in Madras 15.5.3 Ryotwari Theory and Practice 15.5.4 Effects of the Ryotwari System in Madras 15.5.5 The Ryotwari Settlement in Bombay 15.5,6 Effects of the Ryotwari System in Madras and Bombay 15.6 The Other Alternative Settlement: The Mahalwari System 15.63 Mahalwari Theory and Practice 15.6.2 Effects of the Mahalwari Settlement 15.7 Let Us Sum Up 15.8 Andwers To Check.Your Progress Exercises - 15.0 OBJECTIVES In this Unit we shall study the land revenue settlements made by the British in different parts of India up to 1857. After studying this Unit you will be able to undetstanki: the' 3eaning of the term 'revenue settlement', 0 the aknis of the British in their various 'settlements', the Important features of the three main types of settlement. and the important effects of each settlement on the rural economy and on the relatilon of different classes in the country side. 15.1 INTRODUCTION Agriculture has been the most important economic activity of the Indian people for many centuries. Naturally, therefore, kings and rulers have always drawn a large part of their taxes from agriculture. The British government, as it established itself in variou,~parts of India also imposed very heavy taxes on agriculture. In order to assess and collect these taxes, it instituted various land revenue settlements. Let us try and understand what this means. Imagine that the British East India Company has just defeated some Indian ruler, and annexed his territories. Now they wanlt to collect taxes from these lands. You may think that this could be done by lootiqg and plundering-and this was in fact often the first thing that was done in newly conquered territory. But it is not possible to continue like this: F~rstof all, because loot is usually kept by the looter, and does not find its way into the government treasury, and secordly, because this sort of activity is likely to cause The New Land people to flee to other areas, or to so impoverish them that nothing can be got Rr>c,~ueSettlemen's later on. So it is necessary to institute some regular system of taxation. such a system has two requirements: the government has to fix what or how much will be paid - this amount is called the 'assessment; and it has to fix who will have to pay. Now the person who is called on to pay a certain amount must have some connection with, some control over the land from which the tax is to be collected' because he will otherwise be incapable of paying anything from it. So when the government places the burden of payment on somebody, it must also see that ne has some control over the land so that he gets an income from which the tax can be paid. If, ,he does not get anything from the land, he can obviously not pay anything to the government. Now, when the government had fixed (or 'settled') how the land tax (or land ievenue) 'was to be 'assessed', and who was to pay it, and what was to be paid. the essential steps in a land revenue settlement were complete. In this Unit our focus is on the various land revenue settlements introduced by the British in India, their features and the impact they had on Indian economy and society. 15.2 FIRST EXPERIMENTS IN LAND REVENUE MANAGEMENT After gaining control of Bengal in 1757, the British thought that they would retain I the administration established by the Nawabs of Bengal. but would use it to collect an ever-growing amount for themselves. However, the rapacity and corruption of the Company's employees, and their continua1 interference in the administration led to complete disorganisation, and was one of the causes of the terrible famine of 1769-70, in which it was estimated that one-third of the people of Bengal died. i From 1772 therefore, a new system was introduced: this was the farming system. Under this system the government gave out the collection of land revenue on a contract basis. The contractor who offered to pay the largest adount from a certain district or sub-division was given full powers for a certain number of years. Obviously, such contractors (they were called 'farmers' in those days), would try and extort as much as possible during the period that they held the contract; it would not matter to them if the people were ruined and the production in the later years declined. After all, they would have made their profit. Extortion and opprcssion were the obvious results of such a system. Furthermore, many of the contractors had offered to pay very large amounts, and later found that they could not collect so much, even with great qpression. Finally, the system also led to corruption. As with many government contracts even today, profitable contracts on very easy terms were given to the friends and favourites and 'benamidars' of men in power, leading to loss to the government. In 1786 Lord Cornwallis was sent out to India with orders to clean up and reorganise the administration. 15.3 THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT IN BENGAL Cornwallis realised that the existing system was impoverishing the country -its agriculture was in decline. Furthermore, it was failing to produce the large and regular surplus that the Company hoped for. And it was also becoming difficult for the Company to get the large quantities of Indian goods that it planned to export to Europe, because, as Cornwallis observed, the production of silk, cotton. etc. all depended on agriculture. When agriculture was decaying, handicrafts could hardly be prosperous. And both the London authorities and Cornwallis were agreed that much of the corruption and oppression originated in the fact that the taxation had the character of an 'uncertain, arbitrary imposition'. It was decided therefore, that the laridltax would now be permanently fixed: the government would promise never to increase it in future. Several effects were expected from this measure. It would reduce the scope for corruption that existad when officials could alter the assessment at will. Furthermore, now that the state! would not demand anything extra if the production increased it was hoped that landholders would invest money in improving the land as the whole of the benefit would come to them. Production and trade would increase, and the government would also get its taxes regularly. Finally, Cornwallis believed that even if the Ian4 tax was fixed, government could always levy taxes on trade and commerce in order to raise more money if it was needed. In any case, the land revenue was now fixed at a very high level - an absolute maximum -of Rs. 2 crore and 65 lakhs. 15.3.1 A Settlement With Zamindars So we see that the land revenue was fixed permanently. But from whom was it to be collected? The Nawabs of Bengal had collected taxes from the zamindars. These zamindars were usually in control of large areas: sometimes entire districts. They had their own armed forces, and were termed Rajas. But there were also zamindars who held smaller areas, and either paid directly to the State, or paid through some big zamindar. The actual cultivation was carried on by peasants who paid the zamindars at customary rates fixed in every sub-division (or pargana). Oppressive zamindars often added extra charges called 'abwabs' on top of the regular land revenue rates, By 1730 British rule had greatly confused this picture. Some Zamindars were retained - others were replaced by contractors or officials. The old customary rates were ignored, and every abuse permitted, if it led to an increase in the revenues. By the time Cornwallis arrived on the scene, the situation was one of the complete confusion. The new Governor-General belonged to the landed aristocracy of Britain and was in favour of a settlement that gave the right of ownership to the zamindars, who, he hoped, would improve the land as English landlords did. But apart from this perference on his part, it was difficult for the government to make the settlement with any other class. To understand this you must bear in mind that there must have been about four or five million cultivating families in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa at that time. CoUecting from them would have involved the preparation of detailed records of all their holdings, and the calculation of a tax on this basis. This would take several years and a large staff to execute. In addition it would give great opportunities for corruption. It was obviously much simpler to collect the revenue from a small ' number of big zamindars- and this was the arrangement made under the Permanent Settlement that was introduced in Bengal and Bihar in 1793. Every bit of agricultural land in these provinces therefore became part of some zamindari. The zamindar had to pay the tax fixed upon it: if he did so then he was the pwprietor, the owner of his zamindari. He could sell, mortgage or transfer it. The land would be inherited by heirs in due course.

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